If you must quit journalism, please do

• Lekan Otufodunrin, journalist and media career development specialist counsels journalists thinking of quitting the profession. 

Years ago, some United States newspaper editors in a mock exercise were asked to counsel their reporters on the values of the profession and urge them not to quit.

All of them, except one, gave one reason or the other why their reporters should remain faithful to the profession said to be a calling.

“Our technologies may change; our world may be more corporate. But our purpose has never changed. There is so much more for us to do,” one of the editors wrote literally saying please don’t go like the others.

While I share the sentiments expressed by the editors who made a passionate case for the profession, I also agree with the only one who said “If you leave, make the decision for the right reason.”

The dissenting voice reiterated the point Anna Quindlen, former New York Times star columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner made in an interview that “Journalism is the best job, but if you don’t have to do it, don’t.”

Once in a while in a lifetime, one can get tired of what he likes doing and there is no point hanging on to it when your heart is no longer there.

“ Do it because you want to go because you need a break, or breather, or a change of scenery. Don’t do it because of someone else, or some dumb thing that someone else did,” the pro-quitting journalism editor stated.

Yes, despite my undying love for journalism, I can attest to the truth that one can need a break, breather or change of scenery from the hectic schedule of journalism. Whether the break will be temporary or permanent should depend on the prevailing circumstance one finds him or herself.

In my response to a Facebook discussion on a well-known broadcast journalist who was recently appointed a media aide to a legislator, I said she should consider her appointment as a temporary exit from what she likes doing.

If accepting the appointment will guarantee that she gets paid regularly unlike her former workplace where she and other colleagues are unbelievably owed for more than ten months, she has a good reason to move on with her life.

Even where payment is not the problem, the job schedule may just become impossible to combine with other tasks as it is usually the case with female journalists who get married and have to chose between being a good wife, mother and journalism.

If your health is not strong enough to cope with the daily grind of being a journalist and you can’t be given any lesser tasks, so be if you have to go.

READ ALSO: WHAT JOURNALISTS MUST DO TO ENHANCE THEIR CAREERS

You may even be healthy and just be tired of having to chase after news every day or your schedule has become routine with no future for you in your company and in any other media organization, the earlier you take a break or plan your exit from the profession, the better.

If you must leave please do, but don’t do it just because someone else did. The person you’re emulating may have done so for reasons you don’t have all the fact you need to know. You have to convince yourself that you have no other option and do so if you must.

“ And if you go” as the editor noted, “ don’t forget what you’ve accomplished and how you’ve made a difference – the terrific work you’ve done, the people you’ve touched and encouraged.”

This point will be applicable to accomplished journalists who have to take the painful decision to quit. Why you may wish to remain a journalist, but forced out due to circumstances beyond your control, you should be proud of the impact of your work while it lasted.

The fact that you did your best on the beat touching lives and encouraging people should give you some sense of satisfaction that you will always be remembered as one of the journalists who used journalism to make the world a better place.

We would have loved to continue to have you around the newsroom but if leaving is the best option for you please do.